3D. Developmental Core Principal Investigators: Diane Steams, Ph.D., Professor, NAU Jesse Martinez, Ph.D., Professor, UACC 3.D.1 Overview The overall goal of the Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention (NACP) is to eliminate cancer disparities in Native Americans of the southwest. The University of Arizona Cancer Center (UACC) and Northern Arizona University (NAU) as NACP partner with tribal communities to develop research, outreach, and training activities aimed at defining and eliminating obstacles to health equity in areas of Native American cancer incidence, mortality, and survivorship, and increasing representation in fields that provide the opportunities to overcome these obstacles. The Developmental Core is responsible for overseeing the procedures for development, initial review and ongoing evaluation of research projects that meet the constraints of the NACP, i.e., the project must be collaborative, with co-investigators from NAU and UACC, and with tribal co-investigators when appropriate; the project must be relevant to tribal communities in Arizona; and the project must be relevant to cancer, in terms of defining or addressing issues of cancer disparities, and in providing cancer research training for Native students. The overall goal of the proposed NACP Developmental Core is to foster and support culturally-appropriate research capacity at our institutions both through research projects and through faculty recruitment and development. We will work to increase the number and diversity of researchers at NAU working on cancer related projects, and to increase their research success through Individual Development Plans, as described in the Training Core Program. The Logic Model summarizing these goals is provided in Figure 5. We will work to increase specific outcomes of: (1) Successful external funding for NAU researchers in areas related to cancer and cancer disparities, (2) Peer reviewed publications in areas of cancer research and cancer disparities, (3) Collaborative community interactions through cultural competency training, tribal consultation for project development and dissemination of research results. The Developmental Core will continue to interact with the Outreach and Training Cores, as well as the Internal Advisory Committee, in ways that are essential to the success of the NACP. The Outreach Core will advise the Developmental Core on opportunities for community engagement and on the research and training needs of community partners, who will serve as the focus for the development of new pilot research projects. The Developmental Core will work with the Outreach Core to provide lay summaries of research projects for dissemination to tribal communities; and researchers will be available for interviews for newspapers and radio programs and for presentations to NA conferences such as the Navajo Nation Human Subjects Research Board and Native Health Research Conferences. The Outreach and Training Cores will collaborate to provide the Developmental Core and funded NACP investigators with cultural competency training that will strengthen our ability to understand and address the needs of the communities we serve. The Developmental Core also houses the research projects that provide the research training opportunities for our Native students. Lastly, the IAC provides evaluation of scientific merit and cultural relevance for all new proposals, and evaluates progress and proposed directions for continuing proposals. The Developmental Core is overseen by two co-leaders. Dr. Jesse Martinez at UACC and Dr. Diane Stearns at NAU. These co-leaders are responsible for finding faculty pairs across both institutions that are interested in applying for pilot funding; articulating the community needs, as well as the requirements, goals, and expectations of the NACP to new and continuing investigators; assisting in the development, review, and evaluation of research proposals; and mentoring the project co-investigators to be successful in meeting the expectations of the NACP.